March 24

It doth not yet appear what we shall be. - 1 John 3:2.

ALTHOUGH we read, in one place, that “life and immortality are brought to light through the gospel,” yet we read in another place of the “glory that shall be revealed in us.” Of the saint’s future state of blessedness, we have been supplied with sublime and glorious intimations; for “God hath revealed unto us the things which he hath prepared for them that love him by his Spirit;” so that, while we know something of the heavenly state, much, very much, remains hidden. As yet we are able only to survey its dawnings: for the full disclosures of its blessedness and glory we are not yet prepared. There is a natural and a moral prevention. It would not be proper, if it were possible; and it would not be possible, if it were proper.

As the only-wise God has attempered our senses to our present condition, the knowledge we possess of the heavenly world is adjusted in conformity to the claims of our present sphere of action and happiness. Some duties, if they do not entirely result from our ignorance, are enforced by it. Hence our Lord said unto his disciples, “Watch, for you know not the day or the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” We are to “walk by faith, and not by sight;” and are to honour God by obeying and trusting, him. Fuller developments of the glory that shall be revealed would derange the present order of things. The revelation would be so engrossing and overwhelming as to render our present engagements insignificant and uninteresting, and so loosen and detach us from the necessary and every-day duties of life that we should be both indisposed and unable to abide with God in our calling. Our station would become deserted, and other agents would be required to carry on these concerns.

The full knowledge of the future blessedness of the righteous would also be dangerous and destructive. Our physical powers are very limited, and we are unable to bear very powerful excitement. The Queen of Sheba fainted at seeing the glory of Solomon. When the angel approached Daniel, there was no strength in him; and though John had reclined on the Saviour’s bosom, yet when he appeared to him at Patmos he fell at his feet as dead. No; we are now unable to bear up under that exceeding weight of glory which shall be revealed in us. Nor is the full knowledge more practical than it is expedient. We have no adequate medium of receiving the communication. Our modes of apprehending and feeling are not refined and exalted enough to take hold of objects so peculiar and spiritual. Even our thoughts, that seem to “leave dull mortality behind,” here labour and strive in vain. The sublimest genius, aided by inspiration, could only say, “Oh, how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee!”

Yet, with all our deficiencies, we are not ignorant of the reality of this glory, nor are left without such a knowledge concerning it as our duty and welfare allow and require; for though “it doth not yet appear what we shall be, yet we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.”